Madera County Biographies
CAPT. RUSSELL P. MACE
Transcribed by Craig A Hahn
This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm
There is much of historical interest connected with the lives of the
pioneers, but few have passed through more thrilling adventures than the subject
of this sketch, who was born in Boston, Massachusetts, May 14, 1821. His father,
Eliphalet Mace, was a manufacturer of planes and carpenter tools, and having a
large family and small income, Russell was adopted at an early age by his uncle,
Russell Perry, then living at Putney, Vermont. Young Mace was not of a studious
nature, but of a more adventurous disposition, and the country life soon
irritated him. Anticipating the delights of a sea life, though still but a boy,
he went to Boston, and as a cabin boy shipped on board a coaster, bound for New
Orleans. But the life was not all his youthful dreams had pictured, and he found
one trip quite sufficient. At New Orleans he left the ship, and with an old
friend led a rambling life, spent one season with a French trader in visiting
the Comanche country and trading with the Indians. He then went to Independence,
Missouri, and joined the trading train of the American Fur Company, en route for
Bent�s Fort on the Arkansas river. The train was loaded with blankets, shot
guns, blue and red cloth, beads, and a general stock of Indian goods, to trade
for otter and beaver skins and hides. The company was represented by the four
Bent brothers and Mr. St. Vrain. At Bent�s Fort his adventurous life began. It
was desired to send important messages to Charles Bent, then at Taos, a distance
of 180 miles, the trail leading through a country infested by the Ute Indians,
then very hostile to the white man. Robert Fisher, a noted scout and trapper�the
man who raised Kit Carson�volunteered to go, but wished a companion, and young
Mace, seeking adventure, though warned of the dangers of the journey, agreed to
accompany him. They were three days on the trip, and but for the experience of
Bob Fisher, they would surely have been killed, as they followed the Indian
trail and lay concealed in the canons while Indians passed but a few feet away.
They journeyed mainly by night and arrived safely at Taos midst great rejoicing,
as the mission was an important one. They returned to Bent�s Fort accompanied by
a strong guard of trappers and hunters. Young Mace was in the employ of Charles
Bent for six years, and was considered one of his most trusty and faithful
scouts and express riders. He carried express from Bent�s Fort to Fort George,
another very dangerous trail, usually traveling with a mule, trusting to
familiarity with the country and strategy to escape the Indian, rather than
speed of travel. His arms were his trusty rifle, two belt pistols and two
Holster pistols, and with these on one of his rides, he kept five Indians at
bay. At another time, disguised as a Mexican, he rode directly through an Indian
village where detection meant instant death. For two years, in connection with
Kit Carson, the most noted scout, they hunted buffalo for the fur company simply
for the meat, as the company employed about 400 men. Mr. Mace has chased
thousands of buffalo over the site now occupied by Denver, Colorado, and he was
at Pueblo, Colorado, when the first adobe was named for a trading post. Buffalo
meat was the staple food, and they had little other meat, and rarely bread or
vegetables, following vast herds of buffalo and only killing the fat ones. Those
six years were one round of thrilling adventure, but space must limit our
sketch. In 1844, then but twenty-three years of age, Mr. Mace returned to New
Orleans, and for three years acted as clerk in the wine rooms of Mr. Werfield.
At the opening of the Mexican war Mr. Mace was among the first to volunteer, and
for three months served under General Gaines. During this time the Secretary of
War had made a requisition upon Louisiana for a regiment, and by leave Mace
returned to New Orleans and recruited the first company under the
requisition�Company A, First Regiment, Louisiana Volunteers, and was appointed
Captain of the company, and being Senior Captain, had command of the regiment
until all officers were elected. The regiment then served through the war until
the treaty was made with the Mexicans. About that time Governor Barbechanoa, of
Yucatan, applied for troops to help quell the Indian uprising, and Captain Mace,
with a company of men, went to Yucatan and performed some heavy service,
succeeding in driving the Indians from many strongholds which they had occupied
for years.
At this time the gold excitement broke out in California, and on his return
to New Orleans, Captain Mace started at once via Panama and arrived in San
Francisco in August, 1849. He then went into camp at �Happy Valley� for a few
weeks, and then to Rose�s Bar on the Uber [Yuba] river, and with the usual
experience of miners, being rich to-day and poor to-morrow, he followed mining
through the districts of California for about twenty years. On the San Joaquin
river, above Millerton, with a company, they spent three years in building a
race to turn the river. They then struck it very rich for a short time, making
the first day, from a few buckets of dirt, about $900, and for several days,
$1,000 per day, but the bed soon played out and became valueless. Captain Mace
also discovered a rich quartz mine at Fine Gold Gulch, which, during his absence
was mismanaged and destroyed. He then returned to his ranch and attended to his
stock interests. He was a heavy loser by the �No Fence� law, and he had to kill
his stock to dispose of them. In 1874 he came to Borden and rented and managed
the hotel until the start of Madera in 1876, and Captain Mace was among the
first to buy town lots. In 1877 he built a two-story frame hotel in Madera,
which was subsequently destroyed by fire, and the present brick structure was
reared over its ashes. Captain Mace has been twice married. His present wife was
Mrs. Gilmore, a widow with one child, Matilda, who married Dr. Edgar Brown. Mr.
and Mrs. Mace have four children: William F., Mamie, Russell and Inez.
Captain Mace is a member of Madera Lodge, No. 280, F. & A. M., and Trigo
Chapter, Royal Arch Masons. He is also a member of the California Pioneers and
of the Veterans of the Mexican War. He has been elected Justice of the Peace
many times and for three terms has been elected to the General Assembly.
Thus are summed up a few incidents from a long and diversified life�a life
filled with adventure, yet replete with honorable actions in the unwritten side
and of strict integrity in his business transactions.
Memorial and Biographical History of the counties of Fresno, Tulare and Kern,
California Chicago, The Lewis Publishing Company, 1892, p. 751-752